Gather round, hoop heads.

There’s another must-win game on the table for a Philly team. The Sixers play their final game in NBA Cup pool play against the Cavs. Does it matter if they lose? Not really. It just means they lose out on $500k and a trophy no one cares about. Sure, guys like Kelly Oubre or Jaden Springer would love another 500 stacks. But you think Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris care? Absolutely not. That’s interest they make in a year from a high-yield savings bond. And that’s the problem with the NBA Cup. It doesn’t get you fully invested as a fan. Nowadays we have so much entertainment to consume ourselves with, it makes media companies even more competitive for our attention. My idea for the Cup winner would put the NBA in the driver’s seat.

The winner of the NBA Cup should get to switch lottery odds with whichever team they desire:

If the NBA wants fans and players to care, prevent tanking during the season, and break viewership records they’ll use my idea AND pay me royalties for it. First, imagine the drama. That’s why half of us follow the league. The NBA is 24/7/365. You could argue the most boring part of the year is the regular season. Imagine the preseason conversation around the Sixers last year. Instead of, “Do we really have to wait 82 games to see if the Sixers embarrass us again?” It turns into should the Sixers go for the Cup because they need assets to flip to strengthen the team. That’s the other thing. If you win the Cup you can flip this “pick” at the trade deadline or during the offseason. You don’t think the Suns, Clippers, Lakers, or Golden State would love an opportunity like this right now? Is Bradley Beal playing if the early regular season means more than it does right now? Are the Lakers 3-0 in Cup play? All great answers.

There’s an element of strategic warfare here, too. What if one year the Celtics were rebuilding and have odds that guarantees them a top-4 pick? Teams aren’t guaranteed to automatically go after the team with the #1 pick if it’s a deep draft and you know you can get that shooting guard that could immediately help at #4. Combine that with fucking over the Celtics in the process? SIGN ME UP! Why?

The drama. The conspiracies. The strategy. It’s everything we love about the NBA!

Here’s the full Crossing Broadcast with Kinker, myself, and our resident Chihuahua, Russ Joy:

Kinkead: this is one of Pagan’s worst ideas of all time